1. What exactly is an allergy?

Allergies are common in dogs. Atopy (inhalation allergy) is one of the most important forms of allergy in dogs (between 3% and 15% of dogs suffer from an atopic condition)1. Bellow you will find more information how the disease is diagnosed and what the options for therapy are.

An allergy is actually an exaggerated and adverse reaction by the body's immune system to external substances. As soon as the immune system encounters anything that is foreign to the body, it responds by creating antibodies and immune cells. When the same substance is encountered again, the body decides whether to react and how. This is where the fault lies in allergy patients. Instead of reacting slightly or not at all, there is a severe reaction.

What happens then?
When there is repeated contact with the allergen (as the material from outside the body is known) the immune system reacts by producing substances that cause an inflammation response in the skin (sometimes in the mucous membranes too) and subsequentely cause itching.

2. What can dogs be allergic to?

Allergies are common in dogs.
Types of allergy that dogs may suffer from include:

• allergy to fleas induced by flea bites
• allergy to food where animals develop a hypersensitivity to certain components in their diet.
• contact allergies where an allergic reaction in the skin is seen to such things as plastic, linoleum, paint and cleaning materials.occasional allergic reactions can arise after medications are given
• atopic conditions sometimes called atopy: an allergy to materials that may be released in the environment, comparable to hay fever or dust mite allergy in humans.

Because the symptoms associated with the various allergies may look very similar, it is important that a proper investigation is carried out to find the precise cause of the allergy.

3. Atopic conditions

This is one of the most important forms of allergy in dogs. Between 3% and 15% of dogs suffer from an atopic condition*. It is a hereditary allergy to the pollen of flowering plants (e.g. grasses, weeds, trees), flakes of animal skin and various dust and storage mites. The symptoms in an atopic individual usually manifest themselves before the age of 3 years. The initial symptoms are often mild and are tolerated by owners because they respond well to short term symptomatic therapy or because they initially only appeared at certain times of the year such as pollen allergies in the summer. Certain breeds appear to be at higher than average risk at developing atopy. Such breeds include the Lhasa Apso, Schnauzer, Alsatian, Boxer, Labrador, Golden Retriever, Poodle, West Highland White terrier, Cairn Terrier, Jack Russell and Fox Terrier**.

4. Symptoms of atopic conditions

The most obvious is the itching. Commonly dogs will lick or bite their feet and can be seen to rub their heads along the floor or other objects. This can cause skin inflammation. Occasionally allergic animals will develop watery eyes or sneeze.
The inflammation of the skin on the paws, head, armpit or groin and the itching are the most important criteria for making this diagnosis. The skin inflammations can be exacerbated by bacterial (Staphylococci) or yeast (Malassezia) infections, which naturally will require treatment.

Diagnosis of an atopic condition
Other conditions that appear similar to atopy are excluded, based upon previous history and an extensive examination. The following next step in the investigation is to carry out an allergy test.

5. Allergy test

By carrying out an allergy test, it is then possible to determine which materials the dog is allergic to.

For more information about the Artuvetrin® skin test please select Artuvetrin® left in the menu.

Besides a skin test it is also possible to use a blood test. The specific antibody concentration in a blood sample of a dog can also determine which materials a dog may be allergic to.

6. Treatment of atopic conditions

• The best and simplest treatment is to avoid contact with the substance or substances (allergies to more than one material is observed regularly in dogs). However, that is not always feasible, for example in the case of an allergy to grass and/or tree pollen, dust mites or skin particles from the cat.

• Drugs to treat the inflamation such as corticosteroids (prednisolone) are excellent at suppressing the allergic reaction. However, corticosteroids do have significant disadvantages, especially when they have to be given as long term therapy over an animal's life time as is the case with atopic conditions. For that reason, it is advisable only to administer these medications for short periods. Medicines such as antihistamines do not have much effect in dogs.

• An entirely different type of treatment is described as allergen-specific immunotherapy. After determining what the dog is allergic to, it is possible to make the dog less sensitive, or insensitive, to these substances. To do this, special vaccines are prepared for each patient, based on the various substances that cause the allergic reaction in that patient: Artuvetrin® Therapy. These vaccines are then administered at steadily increasing intervals and at higher and higher doses. The aim of the injections is to makes the immune system less sensitive to the substances that trigger the allergic reactions. The proportion of dogs that respond well to the treatment is about 75